Herath spins Sri Lanka to victory

The first Test between Sri Lanka and New Zealand ended quite abruptly, after being set up for a perfect third day, owing to the visitors' inability to play spin. Rangana Herath capitalized on New Zealand's weakness against spin and registered figures of 6/43 in the second innings, to set up an easy victory for the hosts.

New Zealand began the third day at 35/1, with Martin Guptill and Kane Williamson at the crease. That partnership didn't last too long though, as Nuwan Kulasekara struck early to clean up Guptill for 13, after the latter played down the wrong line and lost his off stump. Williamson perished soon after for 10, as he managed to flick a ball outside leg stump straight into the keeper's gloves. New Zealand were struggling at 46/3 and things only got worse for them, as Herath came on to bowl a match changing spell.

After getting a few deliveries to pitch and turn away from the rough, Herath slipped in the arm ball from around the wicket and managed to catch Ross Taylor plumb in front of the stumps. Taylor who was playing for the turn, ended up defending down the wrong line and was struck in front of middle. The New Zealand skipper made his way back to the pavilion for just 18. James Franklin was the next to depart and he fell in a rather bizarre fashion. The left hander gave Herath the charge but failed to make contact with the ball, incidentally the keeper failed to collect the ball cleanly and it went off his chest and crashed into the stumps to find Franklin outside the crease. At 70/5, things were starting to look very gloomy for the Kiwis.

Herath then landed a double blow in a single over that shattered any hopes of a Kiwi revival. The left arm orthodox bowler got one to pitch in the rough from around the wicket, on the off stump, and spin back sharply to sneak between the bat and pad of Daniel Flynn. With the ball doing so much, Flynn was caught in no man's land and the stumps were disturbed once again as the left hander departed for 20. Doug Bracewell walked in to bat and walked back to the pavilion the very next ball, after he missed a straight delivery and was trapped lbw. Tim Southee managed to keep out the hat-trick ball and looked to use attack as the best form of defence. Unfortunately for him, that tactic didn't last too long as he was stumped off the bowling of Suraj Randiv, in a way similar to Franklin's dismissal. Jeetan Patel became Herath's sixth victim of the innings and the 11th of the match as he was cleaned up for a golden duck and Trent Boult eventually fell to the bowling of Randiv. New Zealand finished up on 118/10, however, their lead of 92 meant that Sri Lanka needed to chase a very low score to register a victory.

The hosts went about the chase with utmost comfort, rarely showing any signs of urgency or recklessness. Debutant Dimuth Karunaratne, registered a half century and remained unbeaten with his partner Tharanga Paranavitana, to take his side to a 10 wicket win. Sri Lanka chased the target of 93 in 18.3 overs, with Karunaratne scoring 60 and Paranavitana registering an unbeaten 31. The hosts now enjoy a 1-0 lead in the two Test series against New Zealand.